Project Magpie

- About -

Project Magpie is K A T E S' latest venture: a process of gathering, collecting, and taking little bits of things we like to make an original, boundary-blind piece that is distinctly K A T E S.

Project Magpie welcomes fragments of material from composers and choreographers: sketches, musings, found material, field recordings, arrangements, scraps, snippets, and artistic detritus. (For dance, all of the above, including set phrases and improvisation prompts/structures, are welcome!) We will lovingly rummage through the contributions in the way we would at the dreamiest second-hand store we can imagine. Then, we'll purpose and re-purpose our hearts out, working with whatever speaks to us. We may want your material for a sound/movement collage, layered with speaking, run backwards, chopped up into cells, sung, knit, baked, or just as you sent it - who knows! For the material you send, keep in mind that it is in for this adventure and choose accordingly -- don't send something that needs to remain under your protection.

When we present the fruits of Project Magpie, we'll credit our contributors in the way you would expect from a more traditional choreographer-performer or composer-performer relationship: in written programs, funding proposals, social media, etc. Project Magpie is an experiment, one we're entering into with tons of appreciation for our friends who are willing to give it a whirl.

To send material, just email us! Copy both of us, please - katelynhalpern@gmail and campbell.kate.m@gmail.

- K A T E S Capabilities & Interests -

Katelyn Halpern: modern dance, dance improvisation, yoga, learning simple music (and sometimes complex music as long as the technique is relatively easy to learn - I'm happy to talk through possibilities), not-great-singing, speaking/narrating/reading, crocheting, walking, headstands, choreographing for myself and others. KH cannot bend/lean/round forward for very long.

Kate Campbell: contemporary piano music, either for acoustic piano or 88-key MIDI keyboard; extended piano techniques and piano preparation; familiarity with bitKlavier and a little bit with Logic Pro; narration, singing, humming, and good-but-not-great whistling; a small collection of folk & toy instruments; choreography at the piano or elsewhere on stage (see our videos for various examples of this); coming up with clapping-game-type material. KC is a quiet type and prefers amplification when speaking or narrating.

K A T E S Interests: both of us at/using/playing the piano, both of us moving or making sound together, or both of us trading off roles on stage.

- Other Important Information-

As this is a brand-new project, please understand that whatever you choose to send is done in the spirit of experimentation with us. Aside from credit wherever possible, contributors should not expect to collect payment or licensing fees from their submissions at this time. We understand that not every work will fit this description, so please choose accordingly.

P.S. - Magpies, of course, are the highly intelligent birds who are reputed to steal shiny things, play with other species, recognize their own reflection, and are a source of superstition and nursery rhymes in many cultures around the world.